Someday
by Cheeseburger of Doom
Summary: [Warlords 3] Kirihara has been a toy for most of his life. Mizuki's toy, Niou's toy...what's the difference? Will he ever escape? Maybe someday. [complete]
1. Part 1

A/N: This is the third in my "Warlords" series. Is it already time for the third? The first story is entitled "When You Were With Me" and the second is entitled "Stained with Blood". They don't have to be read first, but it helps a little, because the gangs get introduced.

Warnings: Same as before -- violence, character death(s), much angst, immoral goings on, non-happy-ness...(I'm a terrible person. I can't believe I'm doing this.)

Warlords #3:

Someday

Part 1

Gang life suited Kirihara Akaya very well. He had a violent streak in him that was second to none, except for maybe Oshitari Yuushi of Atobe's gang -- he was infamous in their world, sometimes known as Death itself. He'd disappeared, though, a few months ago. The title of most violent now fell on Kirihara.

That violence only showed itself when it was properly provoked. When he got angry enough, he became a whirl of knife and teeth and fingernails, and his victims never lived long enough to see what hit them.

-----

Kirihara hated losing. There was only one exception to the rule, one time when he'd been glad to lose. That was the day that he'd met Yanagi.

Kirihara's memories before joining Sanada's gang were fractured. He'd been on so many drugs that he couldn't figure out where one memory ended, and the other began. He'd come off most of those drugs when he'd joined Sanada's gang; Yanagi had seen to that. They did not have nearly as much drugs around as Mizuki's gang had.

He could remember the day that he joined Sanada's gang well, though. He'd been fighting with them, and he'd fallen off his bike; his attacker caught him, and held him. He'd woken in a strange bed, with a concerned face peering down at him.

"Are you all right?"

"Why did you save me?" Kirihara asked. Up to that point, he'd never wanted to be saved. That was another thing he could remember well.

"You looked very sad," Yanagi replied.

Kirihara had chosen to stay with Sanada's gang, in order to stay with Yanagi. Yanagi was the first real friend he ever had. Yanagi looked after him.

For a while, Kirihara had known happiness.

-----

Niou had taken over Sanada's position when he disappeared. He'd changed things around, and made the gang more of a gang. They were much more involved in the gang fights, and Niou actually issued challenges -- whereas Sanada had avoided them whenever possible. Niou used Kirihara's violent side whenever it suited him, whereas Sanada had allowed Kirihara to try and smother that violent side.

Niou took up most of Kirihara's time now, and he rarely spent any of it with Yanagi.

Niou reminded Kirihara a little of Mizuki, his half-brother. Mizuki, who had used him in every way; body and soul. He'd basically raised Kirihara, from a young age. Kirihara had never known his parents. He'd only ever known the man, not that much older than he was, who had raised him. His half-brother, who had used him in every way -- body and soul.

His memories were fractured, but all of them were painful. There was one other thing that he could remember very well, but he wished that he could forget.

He'd been twelve when Mizuki had first taken him to bed. He'd known very well what was going on. He'd never been naive. Mizuki had seen to his education.

He hadn't liked what was going on, either. He could hardly refuse, though. Mizuki was his caretaker, and made sure that he had something to eat and somewhere to sleep every day. He constantly reminded Kirihara of that fact, and demanded payment for it.

From that moment on, he'd despised Mizuki in every way. His fractured memories were a whirl of Mizuki, and his disgusting smirk.

That was why he'd been so relieved when Yanagi had defeated him, and so happy when Yanagi had shown him real friendship.

That was why he'd felt truly defeated when Niou took over the gang, and started using him, body and soul.

-----

Kirihara was very sore when he awoke, suddenly. He pulled on his clothes, and left the room. Niou would probably be angry with him in the morning for not staying, but he would deal with that when the time came. Yagyuu was still there to keep him warm, anyway.

Why Niou insisted on having two lovers at once was beyond Kirihara. It never felt very good, really -- it was a tangle of arms and legs more than anything else, but he couldn't exactly argue with his leader. He'd always been forced to recognize authority. Mizuki had taught him that very well.

"Akaya."

Kirihara turned at the sound of Yanagi's voice. "Yeah?"

"You don't have to be his slave."

Kirihara snorted. "Of course I do. That's part of the gang life, right? Following your leader blindly."

"Not this way," Yanagi said.

Kirihara shrugged. "What do you want me to do? Tell him I refuse to screw around, and have him beat the shit out of me?"

"I wouldn't let him."

"There's nothing you can do against the leader," Kirihara said. He'd learned that a long time ago. "Just leave me alone, Yanagi."

He'd thought that Yanagi had been his first real friend, but he'd come to realize that friendship was not real. People simply did not care for one another. That was the way of the world.

-----

Kirihara had no desire to fight against Mizuki, but that was the way this fight had ended up. It wasn't a challenge, this time; the gang had encountered Mizuki quite by accident. It was three on two in Mizuki's favor, and Niou had ordered Kirihara to take on Mizuki, while he fought with the other two. The older twins, Atsushi and Ryo, if Kirihara remembered right -- though he couldn't really trust his memory at the best of times.

"Why don't you come back to my gang, Kirihara-kun?" Mizuki purred, cupping Kirihara's cheek in his hand. "We can have fun like we used to."

"I have more fun where I am now," Kirihara said.

Mizuki's eyes narrowed. "I need you back," he said. "My gang is becoming dangerously small. With you around, it won't get any smaller."

"You have so much faith in me." It was amusing how desperate Mizuki was getting. He liked to see his half-brother squirm. Mizuki was a slimy bastard, and deserved all that he got.

Kirihara was no angel, either, but at least he didn't use people.

"I'll have you back," Mizuki said. "No matter what I have to do."

"Good luck!" Kirihara said, cheerfully. "You'll need it. I'm never going back to you."

"Is your treatment now really that much better?"

It was, for a while.

"Yeah. My boss is a lot sexier, now."

Mizuki's lip curled in a snarl, and he backhanded Kirihara across the face. "I'll have you back, Kirihara." He called for the twins, and they retreated. Mizuki always retreated. He was smart, that way. When he knew it would be a losing fight, he did not risk his life.

"He slaps like a woman," Niou said, inspecting the bruise on Kirihara's cheek. "Does that hurt?"

"Not really," Kirihara said. "I've had worse."

"I know you have." Niou tangled his fingers in Kirihara's hair, and titled his head back. "I can hurt you more than that by just kissing you."

"Oh yes, because you're so tough and manly."

Niou bit down on Kirihara's lower lip. "Don't talk back to me, bitch."

"Go to hell."

Kirihara knew he would regret that later, but for now, it was worth it to see the look on Niou's face.

It was almost worth the pain he felt, after.

-----

Kirihara limped down the hallway in the direction of his room. He rarely slept there anymore, since Niou usually demanded his presence at night. Tonight, though, Niou was very angry with him, and after a severe beating, had decided that he'd rather just be with Yagyuu that night.

It would have been a relief, if it didn't hurt so much. He could barely even walk. He lost his footing, and he fell.

Yanagi caught him.

"Akaya! What did he do to you?"

"It's his show of affection," Kirihara said. He was laughing, almost hysterically. His mind wasn't functioning properly, through the fuzzy haze of pain.

"I should never have let him touch you." Yanagi carried Kirihara to his room, and set him down on the bed. His hands were very gentle. Kirihara had always loved those hands. They bandaged some of his open gashes, and then they stroked his hair.

"I won't let him touch you again," Yanagi promised. Kirihara felt very sleepy. The hands stroking his hair felt so soothing. Niou was never that gentle with him. Mizuki had never been that gentle with him.

No one was that gentle except Yanagi.

"Go to sleep," Yanagi said.

Kirihara complied.

-----

Yanagi faced Niou with a very dangerous look on his face. "I have a few words for you," he said.

"Oh? More percentages and probabilities?" Niou asked, amused.

"No. A warning."

"What might that be?"

"If you ever lay a finger on Akaya again, I'll personally kill you," Yanagi said. "I should have put a stop to this long ago."

"What makes you think that you can put a stop to it now? I'm not afraid of you," Niou said.

"I'm stronger than you are, Niou. In a fight, I would win. I could easily claim leadership over this gang."

"Don't be so sure," Niou said.

"Leave my Akaya alone." .

"Be careful," Niou said, to Yanagi's retreating back. "You might just end up dead, if you keep making threats like that."

-----

Kirihara gaped at his leader. He could not believe the order he'd just been given.

"You can't be serious."

"Why would I be joking?" Niou asked. "I want you to kill Yanagi."

"No." Kirihara shook his head vigorously. "I am not going to kill him."

"This is an order from your leader."

"Then the leader can stick his order!" Kirihara was beginning to see red. He wanted to put his hands around Niou's scrawny little neck, and choke him to death. How could he be asking something so horrible of Kirihara? He cared for Yanagi. He cared for Yanagi _so much_. Yanagi was the only one who had ever been there for him...

"He's been making threats. I can't have that. You're the only one who would be able to kill him, therefore I'm telling you to do it. If you don't, you'll be very sorry, dear Akaya."

"Bastard," Kirihara growled.

"You have to obey your leader, don't you?" Niou purred. "Be a good boy, and you'll be rewarded."

Kirihara stalked out of the room. Of course he had to follow orders. He always did.

There were tears in his eyes. Kirihara never cried.

TBC


	2. Part 2

Part 2

Kirihara had loved Yukimura. Everyone had loved Yukimura, even Niou, who had no heart. Yukimura had been a beautiful man, right up until the day he'd died.

Yukimura was the second person that Kirihara had almost learned to trust. Yanagi had been his friend, but he had actually learned to respect Yukimura. That was very rare.

"You can be anything you want, Akaya. Even if your fate is to be bound up in these gangs, you can still become greater than that."

Yukimura had really believed things like that. Kirihara wished he could believe that.

-----

"Why did you make threats to Niou?" Kirihara asked. The tears had left his eyes, and were trailing down his cheeks.

Yanagi looked up at him, startled. "Akaya?"

"What did you say to him?"

"I told him not to hurt you anymore."

"Why? Damn it, why?" Sobs wracked Kirihara's slender frame. Yanagi stood, and wrapped Kirihara in his arms.

"Why are you crying, Akaya?" he asked, gently.

"Niou...Niou ordered me to..." Kirihara couldn't even say it. Yanagi was the first person who had ever cared about him; the only person who had ever cared enough to try and look out for him. How could he kill him?

"You don't have to do everything that he orders you to do, Akaya."

"He's my leader," Kirihara said, numbly. "I always follow the leader. If I don't, I get punished. It...it hurts so much, sometimes. Especially when he's really angry."

Mizuki, Niou...what was the difference?

"I know it does. I won't let him hurt you, Akaya."

"You can't stop him! He ordered me to kill you, and I have to do it." Kirihara pulled his knife out of his boot. "I have to do it."

He wished he could stop crying, so that he could see better. He also wished that he could not see at all.

"Then kill me, Akaya." Yanagi made no move to stop Kirihara as he raised the knife to his throat. Kirihara pressed the knife against the skin there, and with shaking hands, he tried to press harder.

The knife clattered to the floor.

Kirihara ran.

He could not defy the order, but he could not follow it. He could not run away, but he could not stay.

Goodbye, Yanagi. Thank you.

Kirihara was running to his death.

-----

Kirihara was thoroughly lost. He did not have a very good sense of direction. He'd run as fast as he could in whatever random direction, and now, he had no idea where he was. He didn't care.

Anywhere was a good enough place to die.

"Kirihara-kun. What a pleasant surprise."

Kirihara whirled around to face his half-brother, Mizuki. The man who had raised him, and trained him to be nothing more than a slave.

"You," he growled.

"I was just thinking of what would be the best way to kidnap you, and here you are! That's very convenient. Are you running away?"

"That's none of your damn business," Kirihara said. "And I already told you, I'll die before I go back to your gang!"

"Then let me kill you." Mizuki curled his hands around Kirihara's throat. "If I can't have your skills, then no one will."

"You...bastard..."

"You'll have to call me stronger names than that before I feel offended," Mizuki said.

Kirihara's memories were fractured, but he could almost remember a time when Mizuki's smirk had been amusing rather than frightening. The monster before him now was far from amusing. Kirihara found that he could not fight back against Mizuki. Mizuki had worked to long and hard to make him obey.

Kirihara knew that he was going to die tonight. He was scared, but mostly...he was grateful. If he died, he would never have to go back to his gang, and he would never have to follow Niou's orders ever again.

"What's going on here?"

Mizuki dropped Kirihara, and retreated. Kirihara choked, and tried to suck air into his lungs.

"Are you all right?" the voice was kind, and gentle. It reminded him of Yanagi.

"I'm sorry, Yanagi," he said, and darkness overtook him.

TBC


	3. Part 3

Part 3

Kirihara blinked against the sunlight that streamed across his eyes. He looked around the room, and wondered just where on Earth he was. It was not his room at the warehouse, that was for sure. It was much too well-furnished. It looked almost like the room of a king.

"Oh, you're awake!"

"Who are you?" Kirihara demanded of the man that had appeared in the doorway.

"My name is Oishi. Oishi Shuichirou. I found you in the alley, don't you remember?"

Kirihara's hand flew up to his neck. There were bruises there. He guessed that they looked like fingerprints.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"I couldn't just leave you there. I wanted to take you to the hospital, but when I tried, you hit me. You were only half-conscious. Do you remember that?"

"No, but it sounds like something I would do. That still doesn't explain why you helped me."

"I couldn't leave you there to die."

"Like a normal person would give a shit what happens to a thug like me! Not even other thugs care!" Kirihara got to his feet, and glared at his savior. He hadn't want to be rescued, not this time. There was only one other time when he'd ever wanted to be rescued. "The only one that did care might have ended up getting hurt because of it!"

A horrible thought struck him. What if when Niou discovered Kirihara missing, he took out his anger on Yanagi?

"He might die, just because he cared." Kirihara put his face in his hands, and began to cry once again. He felt like such a baby, but he couldn't help it. He was helpless, hopeless.

He felt strong arms around him. "Cry as much as you want," Oishi, the kind man, said.

Kirihara let himself go. He no longer cared who this man was, or what his real intentions were. He just wanted to cry.

-----

Kirihara learned that Oishi Shuichirou was just what he seemed -- a nice guy. He went to work in the morning, came home in the evening, and made Kirihara dinner. After dinner, they would play board games. Oishi had a lot of different ones. He said that his former lover had loved to play games. His lover was gone, now; had left him for someone else. There was no bitterness in his voice when he talked about it, only longing.

"I deserved to be dumped," he said. "I never paid him enough attention."

"He was stupid for leaving you," Kirihara said, bluntly. "You're the nicest guy I've ever met."

"There are nicer guys than me, out there."

"What a nice world it must be." Kirihara could hardly imagine it.

"The world isn't very nice at all," Oishi said. "It's full of hatred, disease, and crime, but we all manage to get by."

Oishi's world still sounded like paradise to Kirihara. He asked Oishi if he could go out and see it.

Oishi cleaned him up, bought him some new clothes, and took him to an amusement park. It was the most fun Kirihara could ever remember having. He acted like an excited child the entire time, and Oishi let him. He even encouraged it.

At the end of the day, Kirihara couldn't help but throw himself into Oishi's arms, and kiss him. It was the best way he knew how to show his gratitude.

Oishi looked surprised at the action. "You're welcome," he said.

"I don't know how to repay you for this," Kirihara said. "Except...I can offer you my body. If you want it."

Oishi's cheeks turned a little red. "You don't have to make that kind of offer. It's enough that you enjoyed yourself so much."

"Why did you take me in if you weren't expecting that?" Kirhara had been expecting Oishi to demand sex all along, and was surprised that he hadn't yet; he was even more baffled to be turn down when he offered.

"I've told you already," Oishi replied. "I couldn't just leave you there to die."

Kirihara finally believed that that was the real and only reason. Oishi was just that kind of person.

"Do you know what I am?" he asked.

"You probably belong to some sort of gang," Oishi said. "Your past doesn't matter, though."

Kirihara kissed Oishi again. This time, Oishi responded.

-----

"I was lonely for a long time," Oishi said, suddenly. Kirihara was curled up beside him. He'd almost drifted off to sleep. Oishi wasn't the best lover he'd ever had, but he was the sweetest.

"When Eiji left, I thought that I'd be alone for the rest of my life. I'm glad that I found you."

"I'm glad that you found me, too," Kirihara murmured.

That night, he dreamed of Yanagi.

Yanagi, who had been left alone.

-----

"I have to go back," Kirihara said. It had been the three happiest months of his life, but it was time for it to come to an end.

"Why?" Oishi asked. "Can't you stay with me?"

"I want to. I want to stay in this perfect world," Kirihara said. "I want to stay with you, because you've given me so much, but...I can't. There's someone waiting for me," he said.

"You already had a lover?"

"He wasn't my lover, he was my friend," Kirihara said. "He was my friend, and I failed him."

"Then you should go back to him," Oishi said. His eyes were so sad. Kirihara kissed him.

"I'll never forget you."

"I won't forget you, either, Kirihara."

Kirihara left the perfect world behind. It was time to face everything.

-----

Yanagi's eyes widened when he saw the figure in the doorway.

"Akaya?"

Kirihara gave an impish grin. "Yeah, that's me."

"Akaya! Where have you been?" Yanagi demanded. "I was afraid that you'd been killed. Mizuki said as much."

"Mizuki tried to kill me, but I got rescued by someone from the outside," Kirihara said. "He...He took care of me, while I figured everything out."

"Someone from the outside?" Yanagi could hardly imagine it. Living in that world... "Why did you come back?"

"I have unfinished business," Kirihara said. "Is Niou still trying to run things around here?" Kirihara smiled when Yanagi nodded. "Good. I think I'll go have a word with him."

-----

"Niou."

"Akaya!" Niou looked absolutely shocked at the sight of him. "I thought you were dead!"

"I just disappeared for a while."

"Are you back for more fun?" Niou asked.

"I'm back to tell you that I won't listen to you anymore," Kirihara said. "I'm only here because Yanagi is here. I don't give a shit about you or your stupid gang."

"You can't --"

"I can do whatever I want. I can be whatever I want," Kirihara said. "I'll stay here, and I'll follow your orders -- the ones that make sense."

"If you're so brave, why don't you challenge me for leadership?" Niou demanded.

"Because I don't want to kill you," Kirihara said. "I will, if I have to, though. Leave me alone from now on."

Niou did not try to stop him when he left the room. Niou knew how violent he could be; he'd used that violence, countless times.

-----

"I'm proud of you," Yanagi said. "You shouldn't have come back here, though. You should have stayed on the outside. You would have been happy."

"I had to come back, because you're here," Kirihara said.

Niou would probably try and possess him again, and Mizuki was sure to make more attempts to get him back or kill him; but this was where Kirihara belonged.

Kirihara wrapped his arms around his friend, and hugged him close. "As long as you're here, then this is where I'll be."

Yanagi returned the hug. "Maybe one day, we can leave this place together," he said.

"Yeah. Together."

It wasn't very likely that they would be able to survive on the outside, but they could certainly try. As long as they were together.

"I learned something important out there," Kirihara said, pulling back.

"Oh? What's that?"

"I love you," Kirihara replied. That brought a smile to Yanagi's face, and he repeated the words; and Kirihara felt very happy.

He hoped that Oishi would be able to find happiness, too.


End file.
